Former NBA star Dennis Rodman has taken serious heat over his ongoing relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and his resistance of pressure to leverage that relationship for the release of imprisoned American Kenneth Bae.

In an interview with CNN “New Day” host Chris Cuomo, which aired Tuesday morning, Rodman took things a step further, essentially accusing Bae of an unspecified crime, and bellowing his way through the rest of the Q&A, reports Mediate.com.

Former NBA star Charles Smith, who had been acting as the group’s spokesman to this point in the interview, tried his best to calm Rodman down, but when Cuomo asked about Bae, an incensed Rodman waved Smith off.

“Are you going to take an opportunity, if you get it, to speak up for the family of Kenneth Bae and say, Let us know why this man is being held?’ If you can help them, will you take the opportunity?” Cuomo asked.

“The one thing about politics, Kenneth Bae did one thing. If you understand — if you understand what Kenneth Bae did,” Rodman said with a pause, then added “Do you understand what he did? In this country?”

“What did he do?” Cuomo said. “You tell me.”

“You tell me,” Rodman shouted. “You tell me. Why is he held captive?”

“They haven’t released any charges,” Cuomo said. “They haven’t released any reason.”

“I would love to speak on this,” Rodman said, again waving Smith off.

“Go ahead,” Cuomo urged.

Instead, Rodman went off on Cuomo for the remainder of the interview, screaming at him to recognize the sacrifice being made by his fellow players.

Kenneth Bae is an American citizen who has been held in North Korea since November of 2012, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison last April.

Dennis Rodman and his group is in North Korean to play the game of basketball. If the release of Kenneth Bae happens, as a result of the basketball game, then that will be great. Dennis Rodman is not the Secretary of State, nor a spoke person for the government so implying that he has a responsibility to get Mr. Bae release is way off base, although it would be wonderful if he had that kind of power.

We have become such a politically correct society that no answer in the negative would have been correct. If he said no, he would be lambasted in the media. As Americans’ we have to be careful going to other countries and doing things that country may find offensive. We all know that foreign countries play by different rules and laws. I wouldn’t be in North Korea for my personal safety, but I respect Dennis’ right
todo so. That right includes not asking certain questions. He went off because he is frustrated from hearing the same issue being pushed down his throat.

No, Cuomo was asking questions. His questions may have had prefatory statements to lay the grounds for them but they were questions and they were proper. A question as posed by Cuomo is not an injection or imposition as you indicate. A question is not a statement! And Rodman had the opportunity to respond to the prefatory statements and the questions but he acted the fool instead.